Week 4 brought a few clean takeaways, but it also came with the usual NFL mess: more injuries to star players and a handful of 2-2 teams whose next month could swing a lot of things. In the hobby, that means the market is already starting to sort winners from wait-and-sees.
No story has burned hotter than Bryce Young. Not long ago, it would have sounded ridiculous to say the 2023 No. 1 overall pick might be the league’s passing yards leader at any point in his career.
At midseason in 2024, he’d been benched for Andy Dalton and Carolina was careening toward a 5-12 finish in Dave Canales’ first year. Then Dalton’s unfortunate minor car accident changed the path, and now the Panthers’ 2026 version with Young looks legitimately dangerous even while being hammered by defensive injuries through four weeks.
Young currently leads the NFL in passing yards and is tied for third in passing touchdowns. He’s built a big chunk of that production through Tetoria McMillan, the 2025 first-round pick, who has the sixth-most receiving yards over that span, and Jalen Coker has added another layer to the offense with 222 receiving yards despite missing Sunday’s game.
Carolina is only 2-2, and some of that production has come against two NFC North teams that couldn’t slow the pass, but the market doesn’t care much about context when the box scores keep piling up. Young’s Silver Prizm PSA 10 has nearly doubled since the season started, and with the Buccaneers and Packers coming before Halloween, there may still be room for more.
Dallas is making its own case as a hobby mover. The Cowboys’ 34-30 win over the Texans felt like the kind of game that can change how people view a team, and maybe how they view the cards tied to it.
CeeDee Lamb put together a monster performance against a talented Houston secondary, finishing with a single-game career high of 17 catches and 189 receiving yards, his third-best yardage total in a game. He now has three straight 100-yard outings, and Dak Prescott has been right there with him, posting a 6:0 TD:INT ratio and 890 passing yards over the last three weeks despite tough opponents.
That run has shown up in the market. Prescott’s 2016 Silver Prizm PSA 10 has climbed to over $325 after opening the season around $270, while Lamb’s card market has risen about 15 percent since the start of September.
The schedule could help fuel more of that movement, with games against the Packers, Buccaneers, Cardinals, and Colts ahead. If the passing game keeps humming, the Cowboys’ skill players may not stay cheap for long.
Minnesota presents a more frustrating picture. The Vikings have won three straight, but they’ve scored just 48 points across those games, and the offense has looked strangely flat even against soft competition.
Those wins came against some of the league’s weakest teams and a Bears squad without Caleb Williams that played in a monsoon, which doesn’t exactly scream offensive momentum. Kyler Murray and Justin Jefferson each missed a game during that stretch, but for a team with Kevin O’Connell at quarterback, the output has still been surprisingly thin.
The upcoming slate offers only a small bump in difficulty before things get serious. The Saints and Colts are next, followed by the Lions and Bills to close out October. Minnesota still carries the fourth-best odds to make the NFC playoffs as of this writing, but the offense needs to wake up fast.
The card market hasn’t exactly embraced the Vikings’ record, either. Murray, who entered the season as a popular pick in the SCN Challenge, has mostly stalled in value, likely tied to his rough first month and just one passing touchdown in two games.
Jefferson’s base 2020 Prizm rookie has slipped some after his Week 3 ankle injury, and neither Jordan Addison nor T.J. Hockenson has seen much meaningful lift despite flashes of production.
There’s still time for that group to turn, but the window for a real spike may not stay open much longer.
In Other News...
T.J. Hockenson Just Revived A Big Vikings Question Around J.J. McCarthy
T.J. Hockensons latest performance offered a reminder of why the Vikings value him so highly, even as the details of the game created a quirky side story of their own. He scored a touchdown and then slid instead of taking it to the end zone, a choice that ended up mattering to some bettors, but the bigger takeaway for Minnesota was the way he looked as a central part of the offense. Hockenson finished with 119 yards on 13 catches, his first 100-yard outing since the ACL injury that sidelined him in 2023.
For a team still sorting out its long-term offensive picture around J.J. McCarthy, Hockensons health and production remain part of the conversation. His return to that kind of form comes after a difficult recovery and serves as another sign that the Vikings may be able to lean on him as they continue making roster decisions tied to their young quarterback. The touchdown celebration may have drawn attention for a different reason, but the broader significance was Hockenson looking like himself again at a time when Minnesota needs clarity from its core pieces. [Read more 🡒]
Kevin OConnell Just Gave Vikings Fans A New Offensive Debate
The Vikings are 4-0, but the way they got there has not exactly settled the offensive conversation in Minnesota. Kevin OConnells group has already gone two games without a touchdown, and even in a win over the Dolphins, the offense ended up at the center of a familiar kind of debate: whether the safest path is always the best-looking one.
Late in that game, T.J. Hockenson was instructed to stop short of the end zone instead of finishing a touchdown, a move designed to drain more clock and keep the result secure. It was classic situational football from OConnell, who has leaned into minimizing risk, but it also gave critics fresh reason to wonder whether the Vikings are playing to win cleanly or simply playing not to lose. [Read more 🡒]
Kevin O'Connell's Late Week 4 Call Said Everything About These Vikings
With the game hanging in the balance late in the fourth quarter, Kevin O'Connell made a choice that said plenty about where these Vikings are right now. Faced with 4th-and-5, the Minnesota coach sent out the field-goal unit for a 29-yard try, opting to stretch a 15-10 lead rather than gamble on another offensive snap. It was the kind of decision that fits a team willing to trust its defense and the broader game script instead of forcing the issue.
The analytics backed the call, and the next sequence made the reasoning look even better. Minnesota's defense answered with a stop to preserve the lead, turning a measured coaching decision into a winning one in the moment. For a team trying to sort out its identity in the early part of the season, the sequence offered a clear snapshot of O'Connell's approach: play the percentages, lean on the group, and let the roster's strengths carry the pressure. [Read more 🡒]